Yellowjackets trounce Coventry-Windham 33-7

WINSTED — The Gilbert-Northwestern football team unleashed a torrent of second-quarter offense to seal a 33-7 victory over the Coventry-Windham Patriots Saturday, Nov. 7.

The Patriots entered Van Why Memorial Field with a 6-1 record and the swaggering confidence that they would quickly dismantle the Yellowjackets and move onward in their solid season. Gilbert-Northwestern responded with one of the best halves they put on all season, keeping Coventry-Windham stumbling, stunned and scoreless into the halftime break.

The Yellowjackets did not exactly offer a quality start, handing over their first possession on a fumble. The Patriots attempted to drive their rushing game, led by Justin Gillette, through Gilbert-Northwestern’s defensive line.

The Yellowjackets managed to put Coventry-Windham into a fourth-and-five position, forcing them to take a time-out to regroup and strategize. The Patriots decided to forgo the punt and went for the first down, only to be halted within 1 yard by a Yellowjacket brick wall.

Neither Gilbert-Northwestern nor the Patriots were able to produce any offense on their following drives, until Yellowjacket Bobby Lippincott broke through with a massive quarterback keeper. The Patriots put the Jackets into a similar fourth-and-one situation but were unable to keep Lippincott, with a swarm of Jacket blockers clearing a path, from battling through for the first down. Yellowjacket Devin Morgan found some room on the sweep and carried in Gilbert-Northwestern’s first touchdown of the afternoon. JP Dulac added the extra point to give the Jackets a 7-0 lead in the first.

The Patriots found themselves brutalized by the Jacket offense through the second. Lippincott started Gilbert-Northwestern’s next scoring drive with a pass to Casey Ramthun. Lippincott followed it up with a lengthy quarterback keeper that put the team in position to keep pounding through the Patriot defense with their rush game. Devin Morgan tallied his second touchdown carry of the game to bring the Jackets’ lead to 13-0.

Lippincott opened up another scoring possession by quickly recovering a Coventry-Windham fumble on their next drive. A few quick, clean plays later, Devin Morgan added another touchdown. With another successful extra point from Dulac, the Jackets extended the gap to 20-0.

Gilbert-Northwestern’s defense not only kept the Patriots from scoring on their next possession but refused to allow them a single yard, forcing them to punt. Yellowjackets Kyle Jones and Devin Morgan kept the offense moving along at locomotive speed. On fourth down with 8 yards to go, Jacket head coach Scott Salius brought out his field goal unit, but an encroachment penalty put the Jackets into an unsavory fourth-and-long spot. Fortunately for the Jackets, Ramthun’s height and reach allowed him to snag a long touchdown pass from Lippincott to bring the score to 26-0.

Frustrated and shaken, the Patriots gave up possession again on a fumble recovered by Jacket Ross Lopardo. Delaney and Devin Morgan kept the Jackets’ rushing game alive, breaking and battling through everything the Patriots tossed at them.

With 1:05 left in the half, Lippincott found Ramthun in the end zone with another long bomb touchdown pass. The extra point from Dulac gave the Jackets a monumental 33-0 lead before the break.

Aggravated that his team was down by miles, and his personal game had been completely derailed by the Jacket defense, Gillette took exception to an incomplete pass from his offense and decided to unleash his frustrations on nearby Lippincott. Words turned to shoving, shoving turned to a few punches thrown by Gillette, Lippincott defended himself with a few of his own — and both players quickly found themselves ejected just before halftime.

Gilbert-Northwestern entered the break with a score of 33-0, but would be returning without Lippincott, whose role in the Jacket offense was, to say the least, considerable.

The Patriots looked better out of the half and managed a touchdown of their own in the third to bring the score to 33-7.

Gilbert-Northwestern’s defense recharged and went back to work tearing down Coventry-Windham’s offense. Ryan Eseppi and Dulac each had a sack, while Zach Gain had two of his own, keeping the Patriots scoreless through the fourth. The Yellowjackets ran down the clock to take the 33-7 win at home.

Gilbert-Northwestern’s Kyle Jones filled Lippincott’s quarterback position for the remainder of the game and will most likely remain there in the next game at Windsor Locks Saturday, Nov. 14, at 1 p.m, as both Lippincott and Gillette are forced to sit out their next games as well.